All Work and No Play
by Gummy-Tank
Summary: My first FanFicton Now that the GUILT outbreak is fianlly resolved everyone at Caduceus is starting to enjoy some much deserved R&R, except for a certain R&D who isn't about to let himself fall behind... Oneshot


Greetings, from Gummy-Tank

First, let me thank you for giving me and my very first fan-fiction a chance. Since this is my very first I figured I would start small and see where I need the most improvement before I take on anything larger. Please, do not hesitate to point out any problems you see.

Now for the fic! Starring: Victor…I know, I'm scared too.

Disclaimer: All Trauma Center characters and locations are property of Atlus. Not mine!!!

* * *

-All Work and No Play-

A bright mid-day sun shone down on the clean, white, modern structure of the Caduceus USA headquarters. The air was fresh with the scent of flowers blooming after the winter snow thaw and the birds sang their songs as they returned from their annual migration. It certainly was a perfect spring day as the staff spent their coffee breaks on the roof or in the courtyard.

The wide empty halls were quiet, aside from an occasional passerby on an errand, and had a look of peace as sunlight streamed in through large windows that graced every floor of the building…

…except for one.

The basement level of Caduceus, home of their research and development, had very few windows. Reason being: the natural light. Too much natural light could tamper with the lab's results. In this cold and cramped subterranean lab, brightly lit by fluorescent lights that spanned the ceiling was a member of Caduceus staff that wasn't enjoying the peace that was becoming more and more common now that GUILT had finally been stopped. This staff member was none other than the head of the Caduceus Research and Development Department, Victor Niguel.

Victor continued to work for hours upon hours while his entire research team lazed about like the rest of staff. He regularly worked straight through his lunch hour without even a glance at the clock. Today wasn't going to be any different, not while Victor was working on his current project. While everyone is off enjoying their free-time without a care in the world, Victor continues to work, because he knows better. He knows that even though GUILT was stopped there are still cases reported. He also knows that the longer GUILT exists that longer it has to mutate and grow stronger. Victor knows he can't let the GUILT get ahead of him.

* * *

_Damn bug…_ is what Victor Niguel thought as he saw the sample of yellow Tetarti cytoplasm under the microscope. He had administered a large dose of medicine to it, the amount should have killed it, yet here it was still yellow and oozing. The sample had come from a patient that had come in a few weeks earlier. The patient was cured but, the operation… had taken much longer than usual. 

_This __Tetarti__ has developed a resistance to the medicine…_"Just as I thought." Victor's suspicions proved to be correct. He had gotten similar results with green and purple samples earlier. Now he had to report these findings to Director Kasal before he could get permission to start working on an improved solution. It was just a bunch of useless bureaucracy in Victor's eyes but, it was still something he had to do before he could get back to work.

He had recorded all his findings and collected them all into a packet. "One of you deliver these results to Director Kasal." When he received no answer Victor quickly grew agitated. _What are those idiots doing?_ Victor turned around expecting to see the other researchers asleep at their stations, but they weren't even at their stations. Victor let out an irritated groan. _Must be lunch time._A quick glance at the clock confirmed this to be true. Then Victor looked at the pack of papers in his hand. He couldn't get to work on his next project until they were delivered. He could wait an hour until his team got back but…_I don't have time to just be waiting around! _He wasn't about to wait around while that GUILT grew stronger and more immune to the cure. His cure, the one he discovered. _Hell if I'm going to let some brainless parasite get the best of me! I'll deliver the damn papers myself. _

With that Victor was out the door to the director's office, which happened to be ten floors up.

* * *

Victor hurried up a small flight of stairs that led to the base level. He quickly navigated the long halls, heading towards the lobby where the nearest elevators were. He was nearly to the elevator when… 

"Hey, what do you know? Victor actually came out of the lab." chimed in the voice of Leslie Sears who had been chatting with Angie Thompson on their way to lunch.

"Are you actually going to lunch today?" inquired Angie

"No, I can't afford to waste my time like the rest of you."

"You know you can't skip lunch every day. It's not very healthy." said Angie, Leslie quickly added to that lecturing statement with,"Actually Victor, you don't look so good. Maybe you should take a break or-" Leslie was silenced when Victor cut in.

"I don't have time for your little lecture. Unlike you two, I have work to do!" Victor then strode off to the elevator grumbling under his breath.

"Geez, who put ants in his panties?" asked Leslie before turning to Angie, "Let's just go to lunch already." Angie and Leslie continued on their way to the cafeteria.

Victor pressed the call button on the elevator and waited. After a few moments he was still waiting and waiting. _Dammit__, what's taking so long?_ Victor pressed the button again and then again when the elevator persisted in not opening. It wasn't until he was smashing the button and muttering a few unsavory words that the secretary who had been enjoying her lunch at her desk noticed him. "Oh, I'm sorry sir, but that elevator is out of order. I'm afraid no one has gotten around to putting a sign up. Sorry to ask but," she took out a piece of paper and a pen and quickly jotted something down, "would you mind sticking this on the door?" Holding out a makeshift "Out of Order" sign with two pieces of tape stuck to the top and bottom. Victor rubbed eyes "Fine." he quickly walked over to the desk, snatched the piece of paper and stuck it to the elevator door as he passed by to the next elevator in line. Victor smashed the button once and with a beep and light came on above the door showing that the elevator was on the tenth floor. The number slowly started to decrease and Victor waited silently for what seemed like an eternity to him. He watched the number hit four. _Come on, come on. Hurry up! _Another beep as it hit three then two and finally it opened. Victor let out a breath and stepped in.

With a quick strike of the ten button the elevator beeped again. The doors closed and Victor began his ascent. He watched the numbers climb. They seemed to change even slower then before. Victor just stared and waited. By the time the elevator passed the fifth floor Victor started to tap his foot. As the elevator continued past the seventh floor Victor stopped tapping his foot. The elevator had just passed the eighth floor when Victor started to growl under his breath. "Damn elevator!" at the very moment Victor spoke, or pretty much yelled the door had opened to the tenth floor. Luckily for Victor no one was around to hear him cursing the elevator.

* * *

Now Victor was dashing down the hallway towards Sidney Kasal's office. It was quite obvious that he had had enough distractions for one day. 

_It shouldn't take this long to deliver something! Why does everything try to get in my way? Don't they understand I have more important things to do? Maybe they should try to do something productive for once. _"Idiots…" While this was all going through Victor's mind he wasn't paying close enough attention to where he was going and collided with something or rather someone coming out of one of the break rooms. Victor staggered back and looked to see Derek Stiles loosing his balance and his grip on the steaming cup of coffee in his hand. Derek's fight to regain control of the cup was lost as it slipped out of his grasp and went plummeting to the ground spilling it's contents all over the floor.

"Ah, man… What a mess." Derek looked with great disappointment at the tragic loss of his coffee.

_Ugh, great. What's Stiles even doing here? _"What are you doing here? Your office isn't even on this floor."

"Uh?", Derek looked up from the puddle of coffee, "Oh, Victor. Eh, sorry about that, I didn't see you coming." Derek scratched the back of his head, "I came up to this break room because the coffee maker on my floor is busted."

"Why didn't you just go to lunch? I'm sure the cafeteria serves coffee."

"Well, you see, it's kind of silly." Victor didn't like the sound of that, "You see, Tyler is going to try and break the high score on this game and well, he asked me to stay and be his witness." Derek couldn't help but chuckle while Victor couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh.

"You're missing lunch for that?"

"Yeah, but it's alright because Angie said she'd bring us something. Are you missing lunch again too? You know you should really eat something, you don't look so good."

"Whatever…do you need help cleaning up the mess you've made?" motioning to the large puddle of coffee that was still spreading across the floor.

"Don't worry about it, you seem like you're busy, I'll take care of it."

Derek didn't have to say anymore before Victor was gone, back on his way to Kasal's office.

* * *

Victor felt almost relived to finally see the door to Sidney Kasal's office. Knowing his errand was almost over Victor was finally able to walk at a normal pace up to the door, turn the handle and calmly enter the room. 

Sidney had an impressive office. It was large, spacious, and well light by sunlight pouring in through the large window with a fantastic view of the Angeles Bay area. At the center of the room was a large wooden desk the faced the door. There sat Sidney Kasal who was eating a lunch of a turkey sandwich while glancing over some paper with an incredibly indifferent look on his face.

The door closed behind Victor with a click as entered the office. The small sound caused Sidney to look up from what he was doing. "Oh Victor it's you. Have you completed your tests on those Tetarti samples?"

"Yeah. That's why I'm here." He walked up to the desk tossing down the packet of paper, "I was right. It's mutated and developed a resistance to the medicine. I'm going to need to refine a new cure."

"Yes of course I'll get all the paperwork ready. You can get started on it." Sidney adjusted his glasses as he started to skim through the pack of results.

Victor turned to leave but was stopped when Sidney spoke up again, "Victor…you don't need to start your research again right away. Why don't you get some rest? You look like you could use some."

"Tch." was Victor's only response as he exited the office.

_Why is everybody so intent on getting me to waste my time? _Victor was now on his way back to the lab while going over all the annoyances of the day in his mind. _They all need to find something better to do. _He walked down the hall and didn't even notice that the coffee Derek had spilled was cleaned and Derek had left. Derek had told him he didn't look well and so did Leslie and Sidney. _They should mind their own business or, more likely, lack thereof._ He approached the elevator and hit the call button. Then he waited in silence for it to arrive.

* * *

When the doors opened this time the hallway that had been utterly silent was now full of senseless chatter as a few nurses exited the elevator. Victor was forced to the side as more occupants left the elevator. Once the flow of people finally ended Victor could see that the elevator was packed. _Ah shit, lunch is over already?_ He contemplated taking the stairs but quickly jumped into the elevator when he saw the door start to close. The tight fit was pretty bad but Victor wasn't about to wait for another elevator. 

Victor tried to move over to the panel of buttons but quickly found that impossible. "What floor ya headin' to?" asked the male staff member stuck in the corner nearest the panel.

"First." Victor's voice showing his obvious frustration.

"Oh! Not your lucky day, uh?" The staff member hit the button for the first floor causing it to light up; Victor then noticed that nearly every other button was already lit up. _It would have actually been quicker to take the stairs. _

When Victor realized this Victor filed out of the elevator when it made it's first stop which happened to be the sixth floor. He didn't waste anytime getting his bearings and heading off in the direction of the nearest stairwell. But before he could even make it ten feet he collided with something or rather someone coming out of one of the break rooms. Victor staggered back to see Derek Stiles fall to the ground. _Ugh, not again._ Thankfully Derek didn't have a cup of coffee in his hands this time.

When Derek noticed Victor he quickly stood up, "Oh, sorry Victor…uh, again."

Then came a voice from in the break room, the voice of Tyler Chase, "Hey Derek, you okay man?"

"Yeah, I just ran into Victor."

"Victor?" Tyler looking away from the game he had hooked up to the TV "Oh, hey dude! Didn't see you there. What are you doing out of your lab?"

"I was just heading back.", said Victor trying to end the conversation as soon as possible.

"Hey, hold on Victor why don't you stay and take a break. You can fight a few rounds with Tyler and me." Derek was speaking in a very quiet voice trying not insight Victor's foul mood.

"I thought you said something about breaking some high score."

Tyler paused his game. "High score..?", then something clicked. "Oh yeah! Nah, we're done with that. Now we're playing death-matches!"

"I should have known the two of you wouldn't have the initiative to finish anything you start. Now, would you let me get back to work."

"Aw, don't be like that. You look like you could use a break. Come on, I'll let you the lizard-guy. I know he's your favorite." Tyler held up a vacant controller swinging it gently by the cord. "You know all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

"I don't have time to play your stupid game. I have to get back to doing something that's the least bit important." Victor navigated his way around Derek and quickly strode down the hall towards the stairs.

* * *

Victor walked very quickly down the stairs. He had enough of his co-workers for one day. After descending flight after flight of stairs Victor continued through the lobby area towards the stairs down to the labs. He ran right past Angie and Leslie returning from their lunch without even a single glance. 

He found his way through the long halls to the stairs. _Finally.__ Now, I can get back to things that actually matter. _With that thought in mind Victor calmed down slightly. He slowed his pace and let out a long breath as he made his way to the door to the lab.

Victor walked straight to his work station without even acknowledging his research team who had returned from their break. _Now, I have to refine an improved cure for __Tetarti__. I should be able to just engineer a change that will counteract the new mutation in the GUILT's protein membrane. _Victor gathered all his usual equipment and went straight back to work like he always did. While he was working something that Tyler had said earlier came to his mind.

_All work and no play? Whatever…_ "Idiots."

All work was exactly the way Victor wanted it.

* * *

I hoped you enjoyed it. 

I certainly enjoyed annoying the hell out of Victor. He's my second favorite TC character just because he's so easy to perturb.

Please review! Don't let the fact that this is my first fic and that I'm very nervous make you feel that you should be extra nice!


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